Cheers on Sawteeth

 

I started out the summer hiking season with a stroll up the Lake road on the AMR property. This road has many options as it leads up the valley between the Great range (north) and Colvin/Dial Nippletop (south). I gave some thought to other options but in the end opted for the shortest hike to Sawteeth. The peaks were initially socked in but by the time I reached views on the trail up Sawteeth the clouds were starting to lift and by the time I got to the summit there was a the usual stellar view of the upper range. I met a group who are working on the 46 and toasting each new peak with a sip from a flask, cheers! On the descent I took a tipsy stumble after catching my foot on a root and was lucky to land in a muddy soft spot on the side of the trail. Before returning to the Lake road, I made a quick stop at Rainbow Falls. This is a beautiful spot and well worth the side trip. The Lake road was as always a pain as the hard road is, well, hard on the feet in comparison to the trails. A great start to the season!

Colvin

After our lengthy stay at Indian Head-Fishhawk Cliffs, we left at about 12:45 and started up Colvin. There would be no Blake on this day due to time and daylight but Bryan wanted to add another 46er to his list and Colvin has a nice view. I had been to Colvin-Blake before on a hike with the Albany ADK chapter but we did not spend a lot of time at the summit. This is a typical Adirondack hike with mud, roots and rocky ascent up slippery slabs with some fun steep scrambles and at least two false summits. It was a welcome bonus that the cold temperatures made the mud pits solid so one could walk right across them.

It seemed that everyone we met was going the other way and it was getting colder as we went up. Regardless we spent about 15 minutes up there snapping pics in all directions and hopping around to keep warm. I related to Bryan that it was too bad that we would not be able to head over to Blake as the autumn colors would have been awesome!! It was past three already and daylight was becoming a factor so we headed out. The Gill Brook trail is a real nice trail lower down as it passes many nice flumes and pools that one could stop at to cool down on a warmer day. As always the Lake Road is a brutal slog, to put it nicely, that punishes ones feet that have already taken a beating. Bryan tried walking in the leaves at the side of the road but I doubt it made any difference. We kept hoping the bus would come by and give us a ride but no such luck. The last two miles were in the dark but the road is wide enough that you don't really need to see where you are going. There were plenty of stars in the sky as we walked past the golf course to the parking lot.

A nice full day to cap off the hiking season....let it snow!

Indian Head and Fishhawk Cliffs

Bryan and I wanted to get one last Adirondack hike in before it snows for good there. He wanted to up his total of 46er peaks while I just wanted to take in the remaining folliage from a good viewing area. We settled on hiking to Indian Head and Fishhawk Cliffs and then if time allowed after the requisite photoshoot we would continue on to Colvin. We arrived at the trailhead later than we wanted due to a few stops for must see photo-ops at Barnum Pond (mist on the water) and LOJ road (frosty grass).

It was colder walking along the LOJ road that I had thought and there were tons of leaves falling from the trees and lying on the ground. We took the Gill Brook bypass trail and there were even more leaves covering that trail. After a short hike we stepped out on Indian Head and had it ourselves for about twenty minutes. A spectacular view for sure even though most of the color was gone leaving a frosty white shade where the color had been and patches of yellows and oranges here and there.

We took many photos of the various views: Gothics and the lower range, Colvin, Lower Ausable lake. This is a great spot to sit and have lunch. After soaking in all we could we head off to Fishhawk cliffs. This is a short walk that starts with a real steep drop off. This viewpoint shows you the profile of the Indian face and makes for some great photos of this profile with the great range in the background.

This a great hike that you can do in half a day and can be combined with a visit to Rainbow Falls and a leisurely stroll down the East or West River trails.

A Full Day on Pyramid and Gothics

My friend Mark likes to describe short but demanding hikes in terms of "full" miles. Well on Wednesday, Bryan and I made a full day of a hike over Pyramid and Gothics. Full, in that we took our time chatting to people on the Lake Road, visiting side attractions along the trail, lounging on Pyramid's awesome summit for an hour and setting a slow pace on the trails. All told we took 11 hours and made the most of a beautiful dry and somewhat cool day in what has been a wet summer.

We followed the Lake Road to the dam on Lower Ausable Lake. Along the way we chatted with some retirees who were headed to Indian Head (Lucky that they all live nearby). Bryan found some keys near the mile 2 marker and when we handed them over to the guy driving the bus along the road he suggested we might get a free ride back at the end of the day. Sweet!

From the Lake Road we turned to the Weld trail and started heading up. A half hour detour to Rainbow Falls was well worth the diversion. The Weld trail starts out quite steep but gets better and is quite soft under foot. Regardless it is quite a climb as it rises 2500 feet from the Lake road in 2.5 miles. The stretch of trail after the col between Sawteeth and Pyramid is fun with many steep slabs to scramble up. Fun on a dry day but maybe not so when wet.

The summit ledge of Pyramid offers some close up views of the sheer slides of Gothics as well as spectacular views of the upper Great Range. We stopped for lunch, some needed rest and to take as many photos as possible! For the better part of an hour we had this awesome spot to ourselves which must be rare on such a nice day. Although not a 46er peak, Pyramid is a must visit.

The trip from Pyramid to Gothics is a short one which I guess is the reason why it is not included in the 46. More photos were taken from a few ledges on Gothics as now we could see Pyramid! It is striking how steep the sides of Pyramid are. You don't get that impression when hiking up it. As we reached the summit of Gothics we were treated to several demonstrations of flying. First a pair of ravens were riding the air currents and then an airplane flew past us and down the middle of the John's Brook valley (I would pay to take that ride).

The hike back the Lake Road along the Beaver Meadow Falls trail seemed endless and had me questionning the altitude readout on the gps. Eventually we arrived at the falls and cooled off in the icy cold water. As we walked out on the road the bus driver passed us but the bus was full from a picnic at the Lake house so no ride for us. The Lake road is always a painful slow grind at the end of the day. We arrived back at the car at about 8 and got underway just as the last light faded.

A full day!

Rainbow Falls

At the end of Lake Road on the Ausable Club Property there are trails leading to Indian Head/Fish Hawk cliffs, Colvin, Sawteeth and Pyramid/Gothics. There is also a side trail that brings you to Rainbow Falls and another dimension. You wind your way around a corner and find yourself in a small canyon with a waterfall at the far end. The drop is about 50 feet or so and there is a small brook that runs out of the canyon with the water that has dropped in from the falls. The spray has made everything damp and the rock is covered with algea or things growing. One has to step carefully to get up close and pose for some memorable photos.

It is well worth the effort to visit this spot and it can be combined with a treck up to Indian Head.